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Neil Lennon

Discussion in 'Ex Players' started by romeo9535, Apr 17, 2016.

Discuss Neil Lennon in the Ex Players area at TalkCeltic.net.

  1. Jeannie960 Gold Member Gold Member

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    Maybe not that we should accept it but it's becoming like the norm for our club. I don't know when we stopped being ambitious but it has seemed that way for some years now. It's just no surprise to me now and I don't get as angry or shocked anymore.
     
    charlietully and Random Review like this.
  2. Jeannie960 Gold Member Gold Member

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    To be fair that's true but what I meant is for some we ought to be winning everything at times. As for getting beat sad to say I'm getting used to this happening to us .........Our club never go that wee extra mile to make sure of success.
     
  3. Callum McGregor The Captain Gold Member

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    There’s going to be a lot of revisionism going on after the result last night, but I have no issue with the team he picked or how we set up initially. Clearly wanted to make them chase the game and hit them on the counter. It was working until Simunovic had his bi-monthly bombscare moment too.
     
  4. Mickmac Gold Member Gold Member

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    I agre
    I agree. I don't think many were up in arms about the team selection and we were the better team and looked the more likely to score until Jozo made the mistake. Over the whole tie we were the better team and played the better football so I'm not sure what else a manager can do than that - it's then up to the players to handle the big moments in the game which they didn't - taking our chances and not making mistakes at the back. There are things Lenny could maybe have done better but I think most of the blame lies with the players. He can only play the players he has available and he can only sign so many players in the the year he's been back so you can't blame him for the squad he has to pick from.
     
  5. Peej Gold Member Gold Member

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    In a nut shell yeah.

    Unfortunately for us, a lot of things came back to bite us in the * last night. Some of which Lennon needs to take some responsibility for and some of which the individual players do as well. And even then,some of it falls to the board, again.

    Lennon setup a good strong starting side, bit once it was obvious it wasn't working, we should have changed it. Naive to assume that we could see out a 0-0 draw, we needed the goal regardless. At half time he really ought to have changed something.
    By the time jozo screwed up, it was obvious that the defence was an issue. Lennon should have went to a back four and restructured it all, or at least taken jozo off for bitton.

    Those two things were both left massively late before he dealt with even just one part of it, the defence was just completely left there to be a massive issue.

    That's all on Lennon and it's been a concern all season with his subs.
    That doesn't take away the great job he has done though out the season though. One bad result, we all hope he learns from, but the season so far has been excellent.


    The players who need to take a look at themselves know who they are, starting with the obvious in jozo last night, ajer is becoming hit or miss and needs a break and brown and McGregor who the * knows where they were last night.

    This leads on to the board needing to take blame.
    We needed 2cbs in the summer (I'd argue 3), we got one and in January we still didn't fix it, and then we go to a 3 at the back. The board screwed us there.
    Brown is a great player on his day, but ever season he goes through a dip and as the years roll around it becomes more of an issue and more likely. We can not continue to have brown (or any player) the go to guy here, we need to be able to play without brown, the same way we need to be able to have a defender who can come in for ajer when he is off form, or a striker when Édouard is out. We need proper quality and depth to replace the key parts of our squad.
    Why the board have signed Eboue and now Soro is completely beyond me. More so why Soro and Klimala are added to the euro squad and not even in last night's match squad. Are they ready to go or not? If they aren't and we get told they are more for next year, then why add them to the squad? And why aren't we buying players ready for the here and now?
    If we get told again how difficult it is to sign players and we need to build from young, then why didn't we buy more in the summer? Why is everything left last minute and almost the development of the squad in the present seems to be completely ignored in favour of big profit margins 2-3 years down the line.


    Lennon, players, board all need to take their share of last night.


    But what doesn't need to happen is folk coming out with the Lennon out nonsense, guys done a fantastic job this season, massive credit where it's due and I'm excited by how he finishes this season off.

    But if we do the same in the next window as we have done for the last 10 years, then yet again this is going to be the same discussion and same issues come three key points in the European run next season.

    Sent from my Nokia 6.2 using Tapatalk
     
  6. Foley1888

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    Last nights result has made the next week of games even bigger for us. A massive Scottish Cup tie on Sunday now and then a league game away to Livi where we have not won or even played half decent since they have been back in SPL. Followed by a home game against St Mirren. One game at a time but Lennon really needs the team to be winning all of these games and continuing to perform well domestically.

    Then it’s the game at Ibrox where this teams big game mentality will be tested again. So far this season (mainly Europe) but the league cup final and new year derby as well the team have failed to turn up for these big games. The last time we went to Ibrox being the exception and the home ties in the Europa league group stage. Lazio away was a special occasion where we were big underdogs and upset the odds, strangely the position in Europe where Lennon’s teams in his first stint seem to deliver their best.

    I agree with those saying Lennon needs help in the transfer market this summer we have a pretty big rebuilding job to do if Eddy and Ntcham go. We will need a whole new spine to the team for next year. Hopefully permanently sign FF, a CB will be needed to partner Julien, a new CM to replace Ntcham and help Mcgregor our as brown will be another year older and a striker to lead the line. That is just to get started as well.
     
  7. cammy07

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    Simunovic shouldn't have been on the park to make said bi-monthly bombscare moment. Plenty of us were calling for him to be hooked at half time because it was painfully obvious what was going to happen.

    Lennys faith in him is absolutely mental, especially given he usually has an eye for a good defender.

    Also leaving it so long to make the change was ridiculous, we should have reacted to their goal quickly, like we should have reacted to their formation tweak last week but didn't.
     
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  8. Mr Shelby Moderator Moderator Gold Member

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    I didnt understand the simunovic selection. Broke up a partnership which had won us the group.

    Frimpong had a rough first leg but even still at home I'd have fancied him against that left back supporting Forrest. Especially on a night when we needed someone to beat a man.

    Painfully disappointing.
     
  9. Tim-Time 1888 Always look on the bright side of Life Gold Member

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    Jeannie the squad we have is already better than Copenhagen's, if folk are honestly saying we needed to spend another 5/10/15 million on players to beat them we really are screwed.
     
  10. Saul Goodman Gold Member Gold Member

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    I’d be quite reluctant/slow to be critical of Lennon, but the most disappointing aspect about last night for me was the concession of the second goal. We had literally just scored and we needed to settle down, you’re most vulnerable when you’ve scored in football and they pounced on that. Same thing happened against Cluj and we didn’t learn from it. I thought he’d have us a bit cuter than that. The third was * poor as well but the game was over.

    Hard to legislate for the amount of chances we missed over both legs though. No one can convince me they are a better side than us.
     
  11. BathBhoy

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    I didn't want Lenny first time round, but after a shaky start he grew into the role and gave us that great win against Barca.

    This time round I did want him to get the job and still do, but he's got to learn. He's also got to make better use of the squad.

    Welsh came from nowhere and put in a MOTM perfomance then disapeared again.
    Klimala has had hardly any time and Soro none. Bauer has looked good when he's played and should have been in last night.
    Brown is a hard player to leave out, but if he's not 100% then he has to be left out.

    Last nights team and bench were wrong and I said so as soon as I saw it.
     
  12. Twisty Rodgers out !!! Gold Member

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    What game has Bauer looked good? The guy is dug *.
     
  13. Jeannie960 Gold Member Gold Member

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    Yes they should have beat them and I'm not making excuses for them or Lenny. What I'm saying is that our team does lack quality in some positions. We're more likely to sell on the best of the rest and weakening us further each season. Get a good team and make sure we don't get beat by teams like that. In saying that Arsenal got put out last night as well :56:
     
  14. stubhoy07 Gold Member Gold Member

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    I think most know I am a huge Lennon fan but he got it completely wrong last night. Whilst I understand injuries played a factor I couldn't understand the starting lineup. I also felt like you could see it was working 5 minutes after kick off and it got worse. I was absolutely fizzing fizzing watching TV and wondering, how can he not see this isn't working!? Love Lennon but you got this one horrendously wrong!

    Bigger picture though, the huns tribute act have a board that has got them to the last 16 in 8 years.
    We have a board that has seen old co dead, buried, zombified and now officially earning more from Europe than us. * bravo lawwell!
     
  15. Jeannie960 Gold Member Gold Member

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    Yep I had the feeling 5 minutes in as well. We just didn't look right all over the park.
     
  16. King of Kings

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    I think the level of spending to guarantee success at this stage in Europe is beyond us. The reality is the margins here are so small. We could’ve put the tie to bed in the first half of the first leg but instead were soundly beaten over the two games. We can use the squad more, which MAY allow us to keep key players fresh and give us more options, but at the same time, using the same group of players may have given us the consistency needed to be so dominant in the league.

    I do think we setup poorly. I was disappointed to see us revert to 4 at the back with Jozo at the heart of it. Lennon has to shoulder some responsibility for that. The flip side is that in the 2nd half in particular, we were terrible. Second to every loose ball, unable to string a few passes together, unable to really find any tempo or rythme. Basically just reactive to their play rather than establishing our own. Even after the penalty I said I didn’t fancy us here

    Difficult one to take in all honesty, and I hope it doesn’t take the steam out of things domestically. There seemed to be a lot of nervous energy among the support in this tie. I was looking forward to it all week then about an hour before kick-off just wanted to get it out of the way.
     
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  17. Pearse67*

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    Cant blame lennon, lastnight was down to individual errors and the players.
    Alot of them need to take a good hard look at themselves.
     
  18. Twisty Rodgers out !!! Gold Member

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    So he can't take credit for us beating Lazio ? We'll give that to Fraser Forster

    Of course errors played a part but he chose the guys that made the errors. He chose to sign Soro and Klimala in January instead of replacing the guy that made that error that caused the first goal. The blame lies at his feet as well as clowns like Simunovic that can't do the most basic parts of defending.
     
  19. Mickmac Gold Member Gold Member

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    We didn't play well for the first 5 mins but after that we pretty much bossed the first half and looked the more likely to score. I don't think they had a shot on goal in the first half and definitely didn't have one on target. I don't see how things were obviously going to go wrong. The whole tie changed when Jozo * up a pass back which Lennon had no control over. It's ok now saying Jozo isn't good enough but most fans wanted to go 3 at the back and would have expected him to be 1 of the 3. I don't think bad tactics or team selection beat us. We lost because Eddy didn't take his chances in the first game and Jozo's mistake cost us a goal last night at a crucial time when we were looking pretty comfortable. The players response to going 1 down was pretty shocking - they fell apart and created nothing til the penalty. I'm not sure how much Lennon could influence that from the side of the park. He didn't get everything right but it's easy to say that in retrospect.
     
  20. Raoul Duke

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    How can you not blame lennon? He played an out of form CB at RB when we had frimpong, changed our formation that's been blowing away teams this year, played an unfit brown when we have a 2.5 million cm sittin in the reserves, refused to take jozo off when it was obvious his head had gone, took to the 70th minute to make any change at all, made one sub the entire match. Probably some I've missed but you have your head in the sand if you think Lennon takes no blame here.
     
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